2009: The Year of the Android?

HTC has just announced it’ll be releasing three more Android handsets this year, while Samsung partially revealed its first Android phone and LG also claims it has plans for this segment. So, will be witnessing an invasion of Android handsets? Read on to find out…

For starters, HTC will launch “at least three more” Android handsets in 2009, as confirmed by its CEO, Peter Chou. If Dream G1 and G2 look impressive to you, keep your eyes peeled for devices like the leaked HTC Hero in order to be really stunned. Also, Samsung is readying a capacitive touchscreen smartphone that fully integrates Google’s web apps and, of course, it runs Android.

Samsung’s phone will hit the market in two versions: one for Europe and one that supports US connectivity. The latest Android phone officially shown at MWC 2009 was HTC Magic, that will be sold exclusively through Vodafone. This is basically an upgraded G1, ditching the sliding keyboard in favor of a virtual QWERTY one.

LG didn’t show any Android phone till now, but they’ve announced that we’ll be seeing such a handset on the market by June, followed by two other similar devices till the year end. Summer 2009 will be an extremely interesting period to watch, specially since specialists are speculating (lots of “S” action in here, right?) that Apple will launch a new iPhone summer is also the time for Palm Pre to come out and play.